


If the Avengers failed, they would be avenged

by lunaemoth



Series: The Avengers travel to other dimensions [1]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst with a Happy Ending, Character Death, Dimension Travel, Dubious Consent, F/M, I cried a lot writing this, Manipulative Loki, Suicide Attempt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-17
Updated: 2014-11-17
Packaged: 2018-02-25 15:36:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,113
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2626988
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lunaemoth/pseuds/lunaemoth
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Darcy, unwilling Concubine of the Lord Loki of Midgard, discovers the Avengers in her boudoir, except that they can't be here: they're supposed to be dead or in jail.</p>
            </blockquote>





	If the Avengers failed, they would be avenged

**Author's Note:**

> **First** of all, please, mind the tags. Some sensitive subjects are mentioned in this story.  
>  **Second:** I'm french and this isn't beta-ed. If you see any mistakes, please send me a comment with the way to correct it and I'd be pleased to do so.  
>  **Third:** there'll be mention of events happening during _Agents of Shield, Season 1 Episode 15, "Yes Men"_. I made sure that everyone could understand the story but I recommend that you see it: Sif was awesome and I heard Lorelei will be in Thor3.
> 
> And [here's](http://lunaemoth.tumblr.com/post/102956316397/darcy-unwilling-concubine-of-the-lord-loki-of) a little graphic I made to illustrate the story.

Darcy was pulled from her light slumber by a strange noise and a flash coming from the other room. She blinked and straightened up, pushing back her blanket, trying to fight her drowsiness. Her hands went to her hair, hoping it wasn’t too disheveled because of her nap, before remembering she wasn’t supposed to care what this little piece of trash named Loki thought about her appearance. Making him wait, however, would be a mistake. She shouldn’t have lied down on her bed in the first place, it was still too early.

She frowned when voices came from her boudoir. He never brought anyone with him. What was that about? Only one way to find out. She smoothed out her dress, took a deep breath and opened the door. Six faces turned to look at her. None of them were one she was expecting. Quite the opposite. The Avengers weren’t supposed to be in her boudoir. They looked so out of place in the 19th century setting it could have been funny in other circumstances.

Right now, her first reaction was to gape at them.

“Lady Darcy!”

She did her best to quickly regain her composure. It wouldn’t do to show Loki too much emotion, he wouldn’t let it go and he could really be insufferable, cruel even sometimes.

“Well, I’ve to admit, six illusions at the same time, that’s new. Are you trying to impress me Loki?”

He was good. From the little she knew about the Avengers, every illusion acted in character: the Black Widow had a knife in hand, Iron Man was checking her out, and the archer she heard about was frowning while ‘Thor’ took a step forwards.

“Darcy, what are you talking about? Lady Jane and I told you about Loki’s death in battle.”

Her eyebrows went up. “Well, making up your own death, that’s a new one too.”

“Your dress and the décor are quite new too. A bit excessive, don’t you think? Mind telling us where we’re, princess?” Stark asked snarky.

Her eyes narrowed. Loki was the one who chose her wardrobe and, considering he was a diva about it (though she was pretty sure she had screwed herself over when she argued about the extravagant and uncomfortable ones, their number had increased since then), he wouldn’t joke about the matter. [The one she was wearing right now](http://asgard-inspired-clothing.tumblr.com/post/31688412594) wasn’t even one of the worst – she still had the choice of what she wore every day, thank fuck.

Darcy took a minute to look at them, really look at them. In addition to the four super-heroes she knew of, there were two other ones, one really bland looking with curly hair and one looking like a really great cosplay of… Captain America, the propaganda superhero of WW2. Why the hell would Loki bother with them?

Hesitant, she walked to Thor and slowly tried to poke him, waiting for a slap like Loki used to do when she touched him without permission. Her finger met the armor’s metal and a very solid mass of muscles. She recoiled and blanched.

“You’re real,” she breathed.

“Of course.”

“Why would you think we’re Loki’s illusions?” the red-haired asked.

“Because _you’re dead_ ,” Darcy answered in a hushed voice, unable to process their presence. Was she still dreaming? hallucinating? Was she poisoned? She pointed at the Iron Man and the archer next. “Him too. And him.” When she looked back at Thor, she couldn’t meet his eyes. “And you… I don’t know… but you can’t be here. The rumor says Loki put you in jail, somewhere… How can you be here?”

“Where is here?” Captain-America-or-whatever tried again.

“France. Château of Fontainebleau, concubines’ wing,” she answered mechanically. At their bewildered stares, she added: “It’s Loki’s palace. Lorelei chose Versailles because she’s a show-off like that.”

“The Enchantress? She’s been captured by Sif and locked up in Asgard,” Thor protested.

“Uh, no. She’s here. She arrived this morning with her usual grand entrance, men at her feet and all that, showing off the last members of the resistance she subdued.”

The group took stock of the situation while she continued to poke at Thor. The warrior didn’t seem to think much of it, as if he’s used to it, but the last time she had seen Thor… he wasn’t in a very patient or good mood. From memory, she had poked him once in New Mexico maybe.

“I don’t like where this is going,” the archer muttered and she blinked at him.

“Well, I don’t like where I’m living. It’s cold, not in my tastes at all and…”

“What year is it?” the unknown man with curly brown hair asked suddenly. He was next to a window, looking at the garden outside.

“Uh… 2014.”

Iron Man and Curls looked at each other. The others seemed to wait for their conclusion. Darcy was bored with poking Thor so she went to Captain America. She said “hi” and poked at the star in the middle of his chest. He gave her a little smile but gently grasped her wrist to stop her. She pouted. She wasn’t really a fan of all the drama around him, but he’s a really hot cosplay, seriously, no foam abs, here!

“Are you okay Ma’am?” She blinked at him, surprised by his formal speech. “You’re shivering.”

“Oh, yeah. As I said, it’s always cold here, no good heating, thin walls, big spaces, and those dresses… so flimsy,” she babbled. There was a blanket on the couch (always two in each room, it was survival instinct) and she draped it around her shoulders.

“Why are you wearing them then? I remember your knitted hats,” said the dude with the bow – she couldn’t even remember his name, how the hell could he ‘remember’ her hats?

“Yeah, well, Loki burnt them... and everything else in fact. So, it’s that or the birthday suit, which I do sometimes, but not at this time of the year.” She had tried to take a light tone of voice but they were frowning at her. So, she tried to distract them, saying proudly: “But I cheat with the shoes!” She lifted up the bottom of her dress and raised a foot. She had four pairs of socks on, mismatched, woolen, with patterns... She was really good at taking them off in a go. Loki never bothered to look at her feet anyway.

“Interdimensional travel!” Stark finally announced. “That’s cool.”

“That or a group hallucination,” Curls muttered.

“Not just after going through the Bifrost,” Stark answered with a shrug.

Darcy rubbed her temples. She had tried to go with the flow but she was starting to get a headache. She wove between Thor and the Black Widow to get access to her fridge hidden in a cupboard and took a soda. Before she could start to drink, The Flag warned:

“Someone is coming.”

He was looking at the suite’s door. She didn’t bother to wonder how he could hear anything, she reacted instantly.

“Hide!” she hissed, terrified. “In the bedroom, hurry!”

She pushed Curly and didn’t let any of them say a word. Thor looked at her with a frown, like he was wondering what could scare her so and wishing he could pummel it until the problem was resolved. Iron Man and Captain America appeared in similar states of mind but they let their friends pull them in the other room.

There was a knock at the door. She thanked God – ah, as if, Allfather you suck – it wasn’t Loki: he would have just come in. Once she was sure there wasn’t anything incriminating in the boudoir, she took a deep breath and went to open.

“Rhodey!”

The black tall elder man gave her a strained smile and came in. She hugged him, glad she could pour all her emotions in that embrace. From the corner of her eye, she saw the bedroom’s door was ajar, and caught a glimpse of red. She smiled at Rhodey while stepping back and stirring him away from the doors. He was as aloof as ever and didn't notice anything amiss.

“I came to warn you… Loki gave your name today.”

A wave of cold went down her spine and she blanched. She went to sit down on the couch, unsure her legs could hold her much longer, and hide her shaking hands under the blanket.

“I see,” she whispered. “Thank you… for coming.”

He nodded, hesitated and took a vial out of his pocket. He put it on the coffee table.

“Do you know what to do with it?”

“Yes,” she sighed, looking at that ominous purple liquid with glazy eyes.

He didn’t move for a long time before adding:

“I wish I could do more…”

“I know,” she answered, trying to hold back her tears. “I know. But it’s more than some had. It’s fine Rhodey… thank you.”

He nodded slowly before turning back, just before her first tear fell on her dress. He left without looking back.

The door had just closed when Thor stepped forward and came to crouch before her. He gave her the pack of tissues on the table and rubbed her knees. She thanked him, trying to stop the tears and the snot, wishing she could cry quietly and not have to deal with a bunch of dimension travelers or whatever.

“That wasn’t Rhodey. Rhodey doesn’t behave like that,” Stark was muttering.

“He is under Lorelei’s compulsion,” she explained between two hiccups. Thor sat by her side and she gratefully leaned against him.

“What?”

“Lorelei has the ability to put any men under her enchantment. They’re in thrall to her, they follow her orders and her wishes,” explained Thor for her.

“Yeah. Recently, Rhodey and some others have succeeded in resisting the compulsion, just a little bit, enough to help when they can. They don’t know if it’s because they’re starting to develop a resistance to it or if it’s because Lorelei has too many men under her spell and it’s weakening,” Darcy explained, trying to use facts to hold herself together.

“What did he warn you about?” the red-haired asked.

“… Lorelei likes death, war and violence,” Darcy started after a moment, looking intently at her hands playing with the tissue. “When she is here, she asks for entertainment. Loki indulges her. Each time she invents a new ‘game’ and she needs a victim. The death is invariably slow, painful and unmerciful. She asks for a name from Loki. She likes it better when it’s one of his women.”      

Thor’s hand on her shoulder twitched and tensed, and there was a heavy silence in the room.

“What’s in the vial?” Curls finally asked. He sounded strained and she could swear he was a little green around the edges.

“I don’t know what it is exactly. Personally, I call it ‘Loki’s redemption’,” she explained with sarcasm. “He's an asshole and a bastard, but he doesn’t really like Lorelei’s sadistic tendencies. He likes to be in control however and if he can decide who’ll die how and when, that’s fine by him. So, here it is: my sweet painless little death, courtesy of the Lord of Midgard.”

“What the fuck happened here?” Stark finally exclaimed.” How did we die? Why’re you calling him Lord? What the hell!”

“Easy. You failed,” she said, finally looking up at the men and woman gathered around. She gesture to the blue and red wonder. “I’m not sure where do you come from, to be honest. You’re supposed to be dead or something since the end of WW2. But the others… well… Loki was the one who told me the story so, obviously, it’s heavily edited, but to be short… you, Stark, tried to defend someone he called a green monster, I’m guessing the Hulk from the news’ story years before.” Curls waved and she blinked. “Oh, it’s you. That’s make sense. Hi. Uh… What was I saying? Yeah, it was Stark and the Hulk VS SHIELD VS Loki and friends. So, it didn’t go so well.” She took a deep breath, knowing they want more but will regret it. She gestured at the two assassins standing close together. “The… archer, Hawkeye, is that it ? Yeah, Hawkeye was under Loki’s orders so… you killed each other… like, literally, both of you, dead.” The Black Widow didn’t even blink and Hawkeye barely flinched. “Then… then I-don’t-know-who decided to solve the problem by sending a nuclear missile on New York. The missile went ‘boom’, no more New York, no more Iron Man, Hulk or thousands of New Yorkers… But of course, Loki’s smarter than that. He took the thingy with the Tesseract and fled, making Thor chased after him. He disappeared and one day later, he started again, in London this time. New invasion. Then he went to Los Angeles, Tokyo, Paris, Shanghai, Mexico, Singapore…” She stopped and no one asked for more.

“The Allfather would have stepped in. Asgard would have send help,” Thor finally pointed out.

She nodded. “Yes, when you weren’t able to stop him and when he attacked in London, Sif and the Three Warriors were sent. Then, in Mexico, after three weeks of death everywhere, Heimdall was finally able to stabilize the Bifrost and an army came from Asgard. But it wasn’t enough and too late. Your kind fought for one year with the resistance. But then…”

“What?”

“They were called back. Loki said that Asgard was under attack by black elves or something. They disappeared since. Because, just before that, Loki had tricked you and captured you. They have no reason to come back here without you. The human resistance isn’t… something worth talking about anymore.”

“What about Pepper?” Stark asked, like a glutton for punishment.

“Dead. She tried to organize Los Angeles evacuation. She was killed by Loki himself. He tried to embellish it, but from the rumors and what I understood, she used one of your suit and pound him a little too much for his tastes in concubines, which was his first offer. Rhodey was part of the resistance until recently but Lorelei managed to touch him and… you saw what happened.”

“What about you,” the Star Spangled Man interrupted, stopping Stark’s diatribe before he could voice it.

“I was with Jane when it happened,” she recounted, pressing Thor’s hand against her shoulder, “we were in a SHIELD facility in Norway. Just after we watched NY being nuked, Loki walked in like he fucking owned the building. He knew that Thor was coming for him. He wanted to use Jane as leverage and he did. He used both of us twice to slow down Thor. When Lorelei came to help Loki…” She choked up and shook her head. She couldn’t say it. Nearly two years later and she couldn’t say it. “… let’s say that Jane was done taking orders and it didn’t end well.” She took a new tissue and blew her nose loudly to distract them from her tears – as if it would work with super-heroes like that. “When the Asgardians left, Loki and Lorelei started to get comfortable in their palaces. Loki’s new hobby is to find new ways each week to lure women who hate him in sleeping with him. I was the first and apparently he’s bored with me. I knew the last two months without seeing his stupid face were too good to last.”

She threw the tissues to the trash can next to the window but missed it – of course she did. She rose up with a huff and went to put it in. It was something to do when everyone was quiet and furious. Thor’s face seemed to be cut in marble and his jaws soldered together. It was a cold anger scary to see. The others weren’t much better. Even Tony Stark looked gloomy more than enraged now.

“I can’t believe Loki would fall so far,” Thor finally muttered.

“Oh, get a grip buddy,” Stark hurled at him. “How surprising can it be that he rapes women when he mind-rapes people for fun, or that he pushes them to kill themselves when he can unleash an army in the middle of NY?”

Thor stood up, ready to lash out. She stepped in.

“Thor isn’t totally wrong… but then, Stark isn’t either.” She sighed and looked at the stars outdoors. “Loki’s in over his head. He isn’t the one calling the shots. Thanos does. Thanos sent Lorelei, not to help him, but for the two of them to keep an eye on each other. Loki hasn’t as much control as he’d like. It annoys him and he lashes out on everyone else.”

“You seem to be well aware of what’s going on,” the deadly lady pointed out.

Darcy shrugged. “He likes to boast and for a while he thought I was stupid because I wasn’t reacting to his bragging like Jane did. But I listened – sometimes at some conversations I shouldn’t have been privy too, I admit – and I had time to waste thinking about it.” She sighed. “Sometimes he tries mind tricks on me, to make me see him in a better light, to convince me to serve him of my own will. It worked on some others, but then they didn’t see…” She choked up and stopped for a minute, stroking her blanket for comfort, trying to repress the memory of Jane’s body and blood on a stone floor... “I have learned to differentiate his lies from the truth, or as much as possible with a God of Lies, anyway.”

Darcy moved the curtains aside to look at the quiet garden. It was late evening in November, the night had fallen. And it was time for her to stop reopening old wounds. “I don’t know how or why you’re here. But you’ve to go back to your world tonight. I won’t be able to help you afterwards and it would be impossible for you to go unnoticed.”

She looked back at them and lingered on Stark, the Curly Hulk and Thor.

“Any idea?”

“Heimdall,” Thor rumbled.

“Well, good luck with him. He certainly didn’t move a rainbow finger the last hundred times I called for him,” she mumbled.

Thor walked to her. When he opened his arms, she didn’t bother thinking about it, she burrowed into him. She hadn’t had someone to hold her and comfort her since what seemed like ages.

“We have to try, he’s our only chance.”

She sighed and nodded. “Ok, I’ll bring you outside. But it’s not going to be easy, there’re Chitauri guards at…”

“It won’t be necessary,” Hawkeye interjected. “It’s the first floor. We can go down the window.”

She gaped at him.

 

*

 

After Thor took her down, she didn’t let go of his hand. Sue her. She kept the collar of her [coat](http://41.media.tumblr.com/89ac6db63e8340d3d2e38c0d17d53572/tumblr_n3crbfI8uO1qg2ligo6_400.jpg) closed with the other one, trying to keep as much warmth as possible. Since she had nothing else, she had to put on a pair of high heels so she inevitably tripped once or twice, saved only by her personal god bodyguard.

The full moon was on their side: barely hidden by clouds, it allowed them to see where they were going (even though Iron Man was gloating he didn’t need it with his night vision). The Avengers could be discrete when they wanted to and Darcy knew all the good, quiet and unguarded places.

The Black Widow slowed until she walked by her side and asked her a few pointed questions about Thanos, Loki, Lorelei and their strategies. She was clearly gathering Intel incase anything of the sort would happen in her world. Darcy took it very seriously (she was all for those assholes getting their asses kicked, even if it was in another universe) and answered her like it was a test. She aced it, if she could say so.

They stopped on the grass, hidden as much as possible from the main wings of the palace by distance and several trees. The lake was nearby.

“You won’t find much better. Hurry,” she muttered while checking for the vial in her cleavage.

She knew the time was coming. She could die knowing her last day on Earth had been much different from what she thought, knowing that somewhere, in another universe, the Avengers had done their job well and saved the day. She could wonder why she wasn’t lucky enough to be in _that_ universe but it would soon be done and over with. It didn’t matter anymore.

Thor called. Once. Twice. They waited and the Sciences Bros – yeah, she recognized the look – were muttering together, probably trying to find another way .

As always, the third time’s the charm.

The rainbow bridge startled her and she stared at it with a wonder worth of her first time. She hadn’t thought she would ever see it again.

One by one, they nodded at her and stepped forward. Thor was last. His big hands framed her face and she felt the tears come back.

“I’d offer you to come with us…”

“… but Heimdall probably won’t approve? Yeah, I get it. I have this feeling that the rainbow bridge is a no Darcy zone.”

Her banter didn’t fool him. He looked crestfallen.

“It’s okay.” She patted her cleavage. “I’ll join Jane.”

He flinched. Their forehead touched and she closed her eyes.

“Do something for me?”

“Anything.”

“When you see your Darcy… tell her it was worth it.” Under his gaze, she added: “Following Jane… it’s worth it.”

He closed his eyes and nodded. They hugged for the last time before he joined his friends. They disappeared in a flash, the ground burnt in a celtic knot.

Darcy let her tears fall freely and slid to the ground. She cried and whimpered, her shoulders shaking, until she heard the first footsteps of the Chitauri soldiers. Then, with shaky fingers, she found the vial and uncorked it. She took a deep breath and…

… the Bifrost appeared again.

She breathed out sharply, worried that something had gone wrong, that the Avengers were coming back, that they’ll be trapped here, that another world would be deprived of their heroes… But an armored lady appeared first, followed by three men. She hadn’t seen them in years. Sif and the Three Warriors.

They nodded at her but turned to the guards coming, except for one. Fandral came forward and crouched in front of her. He took her hands in his and closed the vial. She repressed the silly impulse to pull on his goatee.

“It’s okay,” he said. Behind him, Asgardians warriors were stepping out of the Bifrost in rows of six. “We’re back. And we found him. _He_ is coming.”

She stared at him, stumped, before launching herself in his arms and punching him in the shoulder. “You jerk! I waited for months and months! I thought… I thought…”

“I know, I know. And we’re _so_ sorry. I promise you that you won’t be alone anymore. Thor will kill us if we let you be hurt again.” He moved her hair aside, slowly stroking her cheeks. It didn’t really register.

“He’s really here?” she breathed.

Thunder answered her. Lightning illuminated the night: one, two, three times, striking the ground where Chitauri soldiers were coming from. The thunder was deafening.

She never had heard or seen something more beautiful.

She stared at the sight of Thor landing not far from them, ready to fight, Mjölnir in hand, cape billowing. It gave her goose bumps. Oh, how many times she had wished and dreamed for this.

He turned to look at her. He looked gaunt but not in a sickly way, in a ‘I’ll murder them all before breakfast, brother included’ way. She waved at him and he seemed to relax just a little while he nodded at her before striding to take the lead of his troops.

Battle cries sounded out in the Fontainebleau’s garden. She was still in Fandral’s arms and he didn’t seem to mind or to be in a hurry to fight, which was strange. She told him so and he smiled. “I’ve been given another duty: taking care of you.”

She didn’t really grasped what was going on, not until she thought of Rhodey. She shook herself and raised her head. “I have a friend…”

Fandral smiled and helped her stand up. “Lead the way my lady.”

“Do you think the men under Lorelei’s spell can be saved?”

“I think that, as Thor said: we’ll do our best to save what can be saved… and for what we can’t, you can be damn well sure we’ll avenge it.”

“Ok. Ok then... I have information that can help you.”

**Author's Note:**

> I'd love to hear what you think about it. If you're interested and my muse is willing, I'll write a sequel in the series, with the Avengers' and their Darcy's thoughts about this little trip...
> 
> You can find me on tumblr : lunaemoth.tumblr.com


End file.
